Bucket Pins and Bushings Worn Out

i just got a quote on replacing all the pins an bushings for the bucket. the parts quote was somewhere around $5k. we have bit the bullet in the past and done this under the theory of replace them all or the old ones will take out the new ones.

is this true?

can i just replace the bucket pins and bushings that are in the stick?

is there a way to get larger bushings or build up a pin?

is there a cheaper way to go about this?

btw a grease pump on a five gallon bucket of grease lives on the job site so these pins are well greased if anyone cares.

I don't have any machines that big, but it still seems expensive to me. Actually, if your pins are $1,000, and bushings are $100 than you could get over $5K. If the main pin has not been loose for too long, you may be able to save $ by not replacing the guide link bushings and pins, or the bushings in the curl rod eye. It sounds as though Volvo has caught up to Cat in the parts price department. How many hours are on this machine? My 315 has over 4,000 hours and I am not even thinking about replacement of any bushings or pins. That being said, I'm sure that a macine that is 2x as heavy will wear things out much faster.

I went through that with my 215 cat. Basically being broke I couldnt imagine
the price from Cat. Ill do it myself which was easy. I made a jig so I can
suspend the pin on centers and built up the worn (low spots) with so called
jet rod which makes nice flat beeds. I know not everybody has a lathe, which
I have two. Then I turned from the good surface into the built up welds until
I have a perfect surface. Then I came up with thick wall exaust pipe which
I tweeted a little bit until I got a good fit. Then I made a sleeve to fit the
bucket then pressed this sleeve over the bushing. At this time I have no clue
If this will work nothing to loose but a little time. Pressed these bushings in the
bucket with nut & bolt method. A project now getting all this alinement to slam
the pin in all alone I think the pin is heaver than I am. Like 4"X2feet heavy.
Now the good part = with many cans of think juice I took a 5gal hyd oil bucket
and made big spacer washers with a hole saw (for side shims) I dont know what
that stuff is but its bullit proof my friends clam im nuts, but I did it with nothing
to loose. All for $-0- junk stuff and it works (done during snow season)
and it is still tight.. Im sure you know someone with a lathe no lathe it cant be
done correctly

It sounds as though Volvo has caught up to Cat in the parts price department. How many hours are on this machine? My 315 has over 4,000 hours and I am not even thinking about replacement of any bushings or pins.

John Deere and Hitachi are no cheaper in the parts dept. either. I just looked at the prices for the pins and bushings in my 20 tonne deere and the parts were $3000. The parts would be around $5000 for a 330 deere.

For my (200 size) Deere, the bushings were around $200 each x 8, and the pins were around $350 each x 4.*

*I'm using round averages because different pins and bushings cost slightly different amounts.

Usually, the bucket pins should last 8k+ hours, so it does seem like premature wear. How bad is the slop in the pins (difference between max internal diameter of bushing and min diameter of pin)? If the slop is ~1mm, don't worry, but if it is over 3mm, then replace the pins that need replacing.

On my deere (that I recently bought used from a company that probably never heard of grease), I discovered that they had just changed the 4 pins, and replaced 7 of the 8 bushings. The one old bushing was so worn that only a shredded ring with a thickness of 0.15mm was left. The old bushing caused the pin to sit at an angle and slop around 9.7mm, damaging the other bushing. Anyways, I got lucky because there was just enough bushing left to prevent damage to the stick. So, I just changed the one bad bushing, and the damaged bushing was refusing to come out easily, so I just left it in (it was good enough for the limited hours the machine will be doing). The other really stupid thing the previous owner did was putting in a pin without grease fittings as the stick end pin. I got lucky that it was just that and I got away with a parts bill of 'just' $600.

As for changing just the stick pins and bushings and not the others, you can do that if the others aren't 'too bad' (i.e. they have under 2mm of slop). If the others are worn out, you may as well change them, as not doing so will prematurely wear the new pins and bushings.

If you replace just the bushings, the new ones will wear out faster if you reinstall the worn pins.

If the parts alone are $5k, I'd be shopping around for a lathe. You could also find a machine shop and find out what it would cost to have them build up and then turn the old pins.

I would not try to weld up your pins unless you want to find out what a broken pin looks like and experience a major failure that could result in serious injury. I have a customer that had a mechanic that suggested this so they tried it on a boom pin on a Komatsu 300-6. After repairing the pin boss on the house and line boring both the boom and house and major structural welding and replacing both of the boom cylinders (and a bill of about $30,000) he was back up and running three weeks later.